(PHOTO CREDIT: Creative Commons) Puerto Rican Congressman Pedro Pierluisi said Monday that he is willing to take Puerto Rican statehood issue over the White House to the UN if the U.S. does not act soon.

Months of inactivity regarding Puerto Rican statehood has caused an uproar, with nonvoting Congressman for the island Pedro Pierluisi threatening to go over the White House to get it. Pierluisi said Monday that he would take the issue to the United Nations if U.S. President Barack Obama did not act immediately. The resident commissioner made the comments in a meeting before the UN Special Committee on Decolonization, the Huffington Post reported.

"Let me be clear, Mr. Chairman," Pierluisi said. "In the absence of concrete and timely action from the U.S. government, I will not hesitate to raise this case before the United Nations or any other appropriate international forum."

The New Progressive Party has been particularly adamant about statehood after a non-binding referendum in November that indicated that 54 percent of the island's population opposed the current status of Puerto Rico-U.S. relations. A two-part referedumn took place Nov. 6, revitalizing the statehood movement. The U.S., however, has not yet acted upon the situation.

"The current status has lost its democratic legitimacy," Pierluisi said. "The only path forward is statehood or nationhood."

About 61 percent of Puerto Rican voters favored a statehood option when weighed against other alternatives such as becoming a sovereign state or independent country. The UN Special Committee on Decolonization voted 12 times in support of Puerto Rican self-determination. The issue has yet to appear before the General Assembly. Meanwhile, the Committee pased a resolution presented by Cuba solidifying the island's right to self-determination and asked the U.S. government to release independece fighters Oscar López Rivera and Norberto González Claudio.

It’s a big day of looking forward as Sony seemed to internalize Disney’s announcement and also wanted a piece of May. Sony plopped Amazing Spider-Man 3on June 10th 2016 and Amazing Spider-Man 4 on Cinco De Cuatro in 2018.

There are a few ways to process this news. First, the boring kind: It looks like Marc Webb’s rebooted Spider-Man universe (which he keeps hinting is a full universe, not a trilogy) is going to outlive the Raimi one and – says this Spidey Fan – finally restore the status quo of Gwen Stacy, one of the character’s most pivotal love interests that involves his most famous moment. And we’ll see that moment, guaranteed, though it’s starting to look like Emma Stone’s Gwen might bite it at the end of Amazing Spider-Man 2 at the hands of Chris Cooper’s Norman Osborn. Some rogue set reports have Cooper on set as Goblin already, which is a bit early if we’re treating this as a sequel…

GOOD MORNING 3 June 19, 2013
The San Juan Daily Star has exclusive New York Times News Service in English in Puerto Rico
INDEX
By EVA LLORENS VELEZ
The Puerto Rico government has seen a
marked reduction of about $31 million a
year in excise taxes received from horse
racing because the industry has been seriously
hurt by the recession that has been affecting
the island for the past eight years.
Camarero Race Track President Ervin
Rodríguez made his remarks Tuesday during
a Senate Tourism, Culture, Recreation and
Sports and Globalization Committee hearing
that was evaluating the appointment of
Wilfredo Padilla as Horse Racing Industry
Administrator.
Rodríguez said the Camarero racing
season just ended with $134 million in
revenues.
“The government used to get $50 million
a year from excise taxes,” he said. “Last year,
it earned $19 million.”
He complained that while the government
spends huge sums of money promoting the
electronic lottery, it spends zero money in
promoting the Camarero Race Track, while
taxing the industry heavily.
“The government spends over $20
million in promotion on the electronic
lottery,” Rodríguez said. “It spends zero on
horse racing. But it gets the lion’s share, a 13
percent excise tax on the racing industry. It
took 13 percent when the earnings were at
$284 million and is taking it now when they
are at $134 million, and while spending $20
million on advertising on the lottery.
“It is at this historic moment that it takes
brave men and women who will step forward
to contribute effectively and accurately
to solving this crisis and preventing an
industry and a sport, which is rooted for
the past 130 years among our people, from
disappearing.”
There are more than 650 horse race betting
parlors around the island, of which 45 are
new and have created 120 jobs. Around 350
of those have adult entertainment machines,
also known as out-of-casino slot machines.
In response to a question, Padilla said
there has been friction between himself and
the Horse Racing Board, whose fi ve members
were appointed by former Gov. Luis Fortuño,
in particular the chairman of that body, Luis
Manuel García Passalacqua, as they are doing
things they are not authorized to do.
Tax Revenue From Horse
Racing Down $31 Million
Local

Welcome to the debut of my new weekly column ‘The Marvelous Da7e!’Real quick mission statement: this column is for discussion of superhero movie news and superhero movies. Titular allegiance aside, this sphere includes non-Marvel properties.This week: new superhero movies are announced (and expected) for the coming half-decade and they show evidence of growing story-worlds. Who’s getting full universes and who is joining the one active cinematic universe we already have?

TWO NEW PHASE III RELEASE DATES

Disney and Marvel put their chips on the release date roulette wheel for two mystery projects last week. The new dates are after 2015′s Avengers 2, which puts them andAnt-Man squarely in Phase III: May 6th 2016 and May 5th 2017. The first week of May has been a Marvel sweet spot ever since Iron Man made that weekend Marvel’s week to launch huge movies or to culminate huge projects (both Avengers movies have/will land in that spot).
So, now the question becomes: who takes these spots and what does that say about Phase III?

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